OREANDA-NEWS  The share of the ruble in bilateral commercial transactions between Russia and Uzbekistan reached 58 percent in 2023 and continues to grow, Russian President Vladimir Putin said following bilateral talks. This is reported by TASS.

"Our countries are consistently switching to national currencies in settlements, which we consider extremely important," the agency quotes the head of state, who called Russia one of Uzbekistan's key business partners.

The volume of trade turnover, according to him, amounted to $ 10 billion last year. Noting that "of course, this is not the limit," Putin, in confirmation of his words, cited statistics according to which trade turnover has already increased by almost 20 percent in the first quarter of 2024.

Earlier, the Central Bank reported that by the end of March 2024, the share of the ruble in settlements with Europe for the export of Russian goods and services reached a record high, increasing by 10.8 percentage points in annual terms.